Photo-reduction of Ag nanoparticles by using cellulose-based micelles as soft templates: Catalytic and antimicrobial activities

•Amphiphilic cellulose derivatives were synthesized via thiol-ene click reactions.•Self-assembly micelles were prepared from the amphiphilic cellulose derivatives.•Ag NPs were synthesized and stabilized in the micelles via photo-reduction.•The size of Ag NPs depended on the size of the cellulose-based micelles.•The Ag-loaded micelles displayed excellent catalytic and antibacterial activities. Amphiphilic cellulose derivatives were synthesized from allyl cellulose (AC) and cystein (Cys)/n-dodecyl mercaptan (NDM) via the thiol-ene click reactions. The derivatives were self-assembled into micelles in distilled water, and the micelles sizes increased with an increase of the DSNDM. The amphiphilic cellulose micelles were served as the soft templates for the controllable synthesis of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) through the photo-reduction. Ag NPs were embedded and stabilized by the amphiphilic cellulose micelles, and their sizes increased from 3.1 to 14.4 nm with an increase of the original template sizes. The catalytic properties of the Ag-loaded micelles were evaluated by the reduction of p-nitropheonl to p-aminophenol. The results demonstrated that the Ag-loaded micelles exhibited excellent catalytic activity. The reduction followed the first-order rate law, and the reaction constant decreased with increasing size of Ag NPs. Moreover, the Ag-loaded micelles displayed good antimicrobial activities to both S. aureus and E. coli. Therefore, the Ag-loaded cellulose-based micelles have potential applications in various fields.